Brachytherapy for rectal cancer

This thesis describes the use of high-dose-rate endorectal brachytherapy as a boost to external beam radiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer. With 60% clinical complete response in the HERBERT study, this treatment is very promising for use in organ preservation studies. Both toxicity of external beam radiotherapy as toxicity of brachytherapy are addressed and further improvements to the brachytherapy technique are suggested to increase tumor control while limiting toxicity. The work presented in this thesis was financially supported by the Dutch Cancer Society/Alpe d’HuZes Fund (grant number UL2013-6311) and Leiden University Fund (LUF)/Nypels-van der Zee Fonds (grant 3217/28-3-13/NZ). Nucletron/Elekta contributed to the applicators used in the HERBERT study. Cook Medical fiducials were provided without cost for use in the REMARK study.LUMC / Geneeskund